Last weekend Bob and I went to Pickerington Ponds to see if the Great Blue Herons had resumed nesting there. Great Blue Herons like to have their nests grouped together, so it is sort of like they're living in an apartment complex. If no more nests will fit in a particular tree, then herons will nest in the tree next door. This grouping of nests is called a heron rookery or sometimes a heronry, and herons are said to be colonial nesters.
This tree had four nests so far, but not all Read more ➜ Heron Rookeries (Heronries) in Ohio
Last weekend Bob and I went to Pickerington Ponds to see if the Great Blue Herons had resumed nesting there. Great Blue Herons like to have their nests grouped together, so it is sort of like they're living in an apartment complex. If no more nests will fit in a particular tree, then herons will nest in the tree next door. This grouping of nests is called a heron rookery or sometimes a heronry, and herons are said to be colonial nesters.
This tree had four nests so far, but not all Read more ➜ 
This past Saturday I stopped by Blendon Woods Metro Park in central Ohio. While going on a walk there I watched a large flock of turkeys slowly move from one side of the trail to the other. The females were the most shy, and they scooted across the trail lickety-split. The males, however, took their time, often pausing in the middle of the trail as if to say, "I'm big and tough, and if anything you should be intimidated by me." Consequently the photos below are all males, what with them posing 
Hoover Reservoir supplies the city of Columbus with its drinking water. At eight different sites around the reservoir is the Hoover Reservoir Park. It is a great recreational resource for residents and tourists, and it is important sanctuary for birds as well. Today I'm going to focus on one of the lesser known sites of this park: Hoover Meadows.
Hoover Meadows is 74.77 acres. Although a sign marks its entrance, the place looks fairly nondescript from the road. A row of conifers divides 
Good news! Regional groundhogs predict an early spring!
You've probably heard of Pennsylvania's famous Punxsutawney Phil, but you may not have realized that Ohio has its very own springtime prognosticator. His name is Buckeye Chuck. Buckeye Chuck lives in Marion, Ohio, and he has been foretelling spring since the 1970s. Despite the frigid weather, hundreds gathered in Marion this morning to learn whether Buckeye Chuck could see his shadow. It turns out that he could NOT, I repeat, NOT 
I met Sam while participating in the Hocking Hills Annual Winter Hike. A naturalist with the state of Ohio was holding him on his arm as the crowd walked past. I took several photos of Sam while he was turning his head every which way as he looked over the crowd. I decided to combine these images into one animated image that shows off his amazing head-turning skills. Check out the image below.
In case you are curious, the four images below were combined with the owl head at the top 
You may not have heard of it, but there really is a Squirrel Appreciation Day. Although not officially sanctioned by any government (that I know of), Squirrel Appreciation Day was founded by wildlife rehabilitator Christy Hargrove in 2001, and it falls on January 21st of each year. He believes that a good way to commemorate this winter holiday would be by putting out some extra food for the squirrels in your yard. In the slideshow below, you can see an Eastern gray squirrel helping himself to food 
Although we just launched our blog in March, it is customary to reflect back on the previous year as the new year approaches. So Deb and I decided to share some of the highlights from the past year as we explored Ohio's parks and nature preserves.
Best Hike of the Year
Deb: Christmas Rocks Nature Preserve — I loved the view from the cliff on the Jacob's Ladder trail.
Bob: Hocking Hills Winter Hike - the Hocking Hills region is great in any season, but it's spectacular in the winter. 
Squirrels and chipmunks both stockpile acorns, but it matters whether the acorns fell from a white oak or a red oak. The acorns dropped by white oaks sprout soon after landing on the ground, but the acorns of the red oak lie dormant all winter and sprout in the spring. Since the sprout consumes the energy that was stored in the acorn, rapid sprouting makes the acorns of the white oak a poor choice for stockpiling. So squirrels and chipmunks typically eat the acorns produced by white oak as soon as 
We'd visited every (non-permit) park and preserve in Hocking county except one - Kessler Swamp. This weekend on the way home from a hike at Conkles Hollow, we stopped there. The parking lot for the preserve in a pull-off off of Hideaway Hills Road. A very short path leads you to an observation platform overlooking the swamp.
The preserve is a 20-acre site consisting mostly of the swamp which is fed by Durbin Run, a tributary of Rush Creek. When we visited we noted mostly waterfowl 
Now that it's November, the wildflower season has come to a close. But let's take a last look at those hardy wildflowers that saw the season out.
And now for one that I didn't see...
A rare and beautiful October wildflower is the Fringed Gentian. In Last call for fen flora, Jim McCormac tells of his trip to Betsch Fen to see these beautiful flowers. Apparently his quest involved wading through a creek and traveling through a woods that was without